Military discipline 'at risk' from fear of courts

Army instructors are struggling to enforce discipline at recruit training centres because they are scared of becoming embroiled in high-profile bullying investigations.

Those responsible for turning raw recruits into professional soldiers say the Ministry of Defence's "over sensitivity" towards allegations of abuse following the four deaths at Deepcut Army Barracks in Surrey is hindering their ability to train and discipline recruits.

Instructors have been told that any accusations of abuse will be fully investigated and could lead to them being removed from their posts even if the charges against them are dismissed.

Apart from formal warnings and detention parades, the only form of punishment open to them is to order wayward recruits to perform 10 press-ups.

They say that fear of prosecution has resulted in a weakening of discipline. It has been claimed that, as standards drop, instructors at some training centres have been threatened and attacked by off-duty recruits who are drunk. Worried instructors fear that the ultimate result will be more ill-disciplined troops taking part in military operations.

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The concerns emerged a week after the latest accusation of bullying in the Army. As the Sunday Telegraph reported last week, a recruit at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, North Yorks, claimed he was attacked with a golf club, beaten by instructors and forced to drink heated chilli sauce.

Two corporals have been suspended from instructing at the camp and told that they face being removed "without prejudice" from their posts. Both are said to strongly contest the claims by 18-year-old Private Darren Jacques.

Following the article, a number of former and serving instructors at Catterick have spoken to this newspaper of the increasingly unenviable role of instructor in the Army.

One non-commissioned officer said: "The Infantry Training Centre is now laughingly known as the Instructor Testing Centre because it is difficult to spend a two-year tour here without a recruit making allegations of abuse against you.

"We have 26 weeks to turn young men, some of whom have never had a male role model and treat any form of discipline with complete contempt, into professional soldiers and we are not allowed to shout, swear or lay a finger on them.

"I'm not suggesting in any way that we should be allowed to bully or abuse, but sometimes it is necessary to raise the tempo and swearing can often do that."

Patrick Mercer, the shadow homeland defence minister and a former Army officer, said: "There is no place in military training for bullying. But it must be remembered that these soldiers are being trained for a brutal trade in a merciless environment.

"There must be a certainty amongst instructors that they can train soldiers effectively without fearing for their careers."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the Armed Forces had a zero tolerance attitude towards bullying and that it had a duty to rigorously investigate all allegations.

In a separate development, Admiral Sir Alan West, the head of the Royal Navy, said the military is facing "legal encirclement" from human rights legislation. Sir Alan said that he was "nervous" at the way human rights laws were being applied to the Army without taking into account its unique role.